Thursday, August 4, 2016

Geology Can Be Amazing

 I few more photos from Iceland today. Today my theme is geology.
Above, this amazing set of waterfalls called Gullfoss. We actually walked down to where all those people are standing, which was a little scary for me since I am not crazy about being close to the edge of heights, especially with powerful waterfalls right next to me, but it was a very different  and interesting view of the falls. I'll show you my water photos some other day.
By the way, I haven't run any of these photos through my photo editing program, so if the color looks a bit dull, that is just the digital camera effect which makes everything a little bit grey.
 Boiling mud pots and in the same area
 steaming vents. Kind of a strange thing to see steam coming out of the ground.
 More boiling mud.
 I can't remember what volcano this is. I want to say Mt Hekla, but I  think I am wrong. I need to dig out my map I guess. It might also be Snaefellsjokull. I was having a lot of problems with some of those Icelandic names.  I love the cloud hanging along the top though. 
 And here's this awesome glacier. You could drive off road to the base (well on this rough gravel road) and actually get right next to the glacier. It was very cool to do, and in fact, I think the highlight of my trip. I have some great photos but I will show those another day too.
 And this is the Blue Lagoon, a thermal pool. It is pretty famous, and we went our first day there. All the mineral water comes out of a geothermal heating plant. And the water is really that cool blue color and looks like tinted milk. I must say I enjoyed lounging in the water for a bit.
 Another heated pool letting off all this steam. Don't touch the water or get to close, otherwise you will be burned.
 The tide was out but these are some of the fantastic sea stacks we saw. This particular cluster was north of Reykjavik on the peninsula at a national park (Snaefellsjokull). 
 Not all beaches we stopped at (to walk- way too cold or to rough to go beaching) were black lava sand, but one near Vik was. It made an amazing background for photos.
 Below this is the bridge between continents. The people in the foreground are standing on the North American plate, and the ridge in the background is the Eurasian plate. The gravelly sand in the middle is where the 2 tectonic plates are pulling apart. Iceland is one place in the world where the land is actually getting bigger. Not by much, a couple of centimeters a year.
 Water at the edge of a geothermal pool/geyser. I love the color on the bottom.
 And more steaming vents. I am actually surprised there aren't more of these around the island. These vents were at Geysir.

And here we are, at Geysir.  This one erupts every 5-15 minutes. Which was fun to see, and we saw it quite a few times, even on the road back to our hotel as we passed by later in the day.
So you can see (if you aren't familiar with) that there is pretty cool geology going on in Iceland.  And this is just a taste of what we saw. :)
I'll be back tomorrow with a little art.
Thanks for stopping by to visit.

12 comments:

Gibby Frogett said...

Amazing landscape and photos today :) probably a daft question, but, did the air smell of sulphur or does the winds keep it fresh?
Such a huge landscape I didn't notice the people in the first photo until I saw you mention it.
Looking forward to seeing more :)
Gill x

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, it looks spectacular and so many different landscapes! I especially like the waterfall photo with the beautiful rainbow in the foreground and I imagine the noise was amazing too! I can't believe you got that close to a glacier, must have been AWESOME, I can see why it would be the highlight of your trip, so so cool! The thermal waters look very inviting, I could do with lounging in there for an hour or maybe two :-). The black sand looks very pretty and makes a lovely back drop for those pebbles. What a wonderful set of geology photos you have shared and what memories you have to cherish! Glad you had such a wonderful time. Happy Friday! J :-)

Lisca said...

Thank you for showing those photos! Isn't geology amazing! I did an end-of-year project about Iceland at the end of secundary school, way back in 1970. I was fascinated by Iceland and later on I went to study geology. (I have my degree:BSc)
I must admit that I have forgotten a lot of what I learnt as I never worked as a geologist, but chose to work as a nurse. The fascination with geology is still there though.

Valerie-Jael said...

Fantastic photos, wow, what a fantastic place you visited. Hugs, Valerie

~*~Patty S said...

oooooh really wonderful and very interesting Erika!
I got Mr M to take a break in clearing out the garage and enjoy your Iceland pix too! Could you hear the oohs and aahs all the way from here in VA ;-)
That big cool blue milk "bath" sure looks nice and how very cool are those boiling mud pots.
There is something so majestic and powerful about rushing water!
Looks like you got the royal treatment there at the falls.
Thank you for sharing...looking forward to more
oxo

~*~Patty S said...

wanted to add Jim's observation of the smooth round rocks in the black sand reminded him of hieroglyphics... the instant he said it I saw some figures!

Anonymous said...

Milky blue water looks great. I would have enjoyed that soak, but NO boiling mud, so weird looking. xox

sheila 77 said...

Every single photo here is wonderful, images from another world.
Swimming in that blue water must have been quite an experience.

Jeanie said...

What fascinating terrain. That lagoon would be fun. I can't believe the diversity of this land. Oh, and that waterfall/rainbow photo at the top? Four star! I can see why you would be shooting photos like a crazy girl out there -- so much eye candy. You're really capturing it all so beautifully.

Sami said...

Such a different landscape! Beautiful photos Erika.

Iris Flavia said...

Big, big WOW (minus, yes, heights freak me out, too).

Stevenson Q said...

Dearest Erika! Look at the diversity of elements you shown us on this post! They are all so beautiful and so amazing! I love geology but not as much as I know about geography. I love reading about different types or rocks and land masses :)

Thank you so much dear Erika for sharing this to Timeless Thursdays! That Banner OMG Soooo beautiful! We don't have Halloween here but those colors you choose are striking and beautiful!